will
|
I look forward to your impressions as the graphene wakes up more Lon. I have used graphene oil over time as a connection conditioner, and can imagine it to be a great thing to integrate in a sluggo. Not the same, but it seems some nicer Chinese fuses use graphene (and other) powder inside, and I would not doubt if SR similarly uses mineral blends supporting cleaner, denser, more dynamic sound.
Reading the review update Mark recently posted, I thought, "well I recall hearing very similar results (description-wise) changing from the Gold Plated “Super Sluggo" to Mark's Copper Sluggos.”
On first impressions, I remember liking the gold dipped "super sluggo," enjoying how it increased density with smooth and spacious midrange textures, fine detail and decays... a notable pleasant sweetness. But it did not take long to find the bass in particular slowish and veiled for my tastes, and associated, lacking finer information that makes leading edges and textures feel more complex and alive. This impression followed with the mids and top feeling less obviously slowish and veiled, but still a little sluggishness that to me was beyond a slightly euphonic sweetness… in turn reducing/smoothing the finest micro information in space, and speeds that I love.
After that settled in, I thought I would be one of the first to send my SDFBs and all back. But experimenting with different, more resolving, less bass weighted, and faster cables and tubes helped. Then I tried some home-made copper slugs that were big sounding, but more balanced here. Their bigness was like the gold, but with better resolution and speed balances, including the bass being alive and complete enough to keep me digging in. More cable and tube experiments to open the sound just so then caused me to be able to hear more of the SDFB benefits, while liking the concept of protected, direct connections…but I needed to make it work with less balance shifts and more transparently in this system.
Then I got some verafi coppers from Mark, and that helped more... I really like(d) the sound of his coppers, especially with clearer/faster cables and tubes. One of those rare occasions where copper really shines, the sluggo had good balances spectrally and across the speed ranges, while being quite resolving of very fine information in space... allowing a beautiful coppery shimmer and sweetness that is usually less clear here. The verafi copper being 5mm was part of this, mine having been more like 6mm, the lighter gauge verafi leaned the sound in a really good way in my system, less dense/full allowing more of the sound completeness I really like from the verafi copper.
Then, making faster and more resolving "piggies" continued to improve the whole in the same directions... a little less dense/full/bassy, they allowed more resolution and speed.
Now, having integrated the SDFBs with system adjustments, in today’s quick tests I used Archie Schepp and Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson "How Deep is the Ocean" from "Looking at Bird." It is a decent recording with just sax and bass, so a nice reference for me for hearing into the recordings of instruments and space. I did these tests in my CSP3 since it is easier to switch fuse replacements than my amp, and very revealing, so shows it all pretty well, but is limited to its signature. I tested them both ways to verify the most resolving sound. Then I let them warm up a little, but guessing more would be better, though making it harder to compare. So these tests are not conclusive and are general based on one component and one recording… hopefully a useful set of pointers though.
I had been running a Rhodium plated hollow silver fuse replacement in the CSP3, and still feel like it is not fully burned in with several weeks of 5-8 hour days. I find Rhodium sounds good within a day or two a lot of the time, but takes a long time to fully burn in to a point where its solid clarity and smoothness continues to allowing the subtlest fine detail, space and speed.
First I tried the Super Sluggo (gold dip), and found it similar to when I first tried it... a nice big sound with seductive mid to high air and textures. But for me, it is still too slow, the slowness also reducing micro information cues and inner detail and space, especially down low. Even having compensated for the extra power supply push from sluggos making the whole of the sound denser and balancing it more toward bass... With the super sluggo, the bass in particular, supported by its fullness leaking some into the mids, is slow and dark enough to feel like the low end is lacking articulation in comparison to more open and faster top, and in comparison to other slugs I tried.
It would not surprise me if this is part of what the reviewer experienced changing from the gold super sluggo to graphene, bass issues he had with his amp possibly being in part associated with the Super Sluggo sound. Here, even having adapted the SDFBs to my system and tastes, if the gold were my only choice, and I was not a maker and modder, I imagine I might go back to fuses.
This system, without feeling bright or lean, shows everything pretty clearly, down to the finest harmonic information... Having solved a lot of the smearing I did not know was there per se, there is lots of space helping to show increased resolution of the finer harmonic complexities, leading edges, decays, textures, etc.... all in a warmish but fast musical foundation. The super sluggo pushed the balances and speeds out of whack in my initial tests, and still does that, though to a lesser degree.
Finally, here, the inherent sound of the Super Sluggo does good things I can imagine people preferring in given settings. But it does not on the whole compliment my system and sound needs. And my issues with the super sluggo are similar to what I interpret the reviewer found the graphene to resolve... By his descriptions of the positive changes with the graphene...looked at the other way... the graphene revealed and resolved traits that the Super did not completely reveal. Here, all the fuse replacements I have tried improved on these same issues, compared to the Super Sluggo, increasing overall clarity, speed, better balances...and in turn making the music more alive with a more complete soundstage.
This is not to say the Graphenes are not great, or that the Supers are not just right for some settings and tastes, just that they do influence the sound in pretty clear ways.
Next I tried a Verafi Copper. As I said, I really liked this one before, and I found it nice enough today to want to do more comparisons with my now, mostly hollow fuse replacements, at least once they are more burned in. The hollows open and resolve the speeds and sound more than the solids here, taking the system work I did to adapt to slugs a little further, and into a very nice place actually.
Here the copper does most everything in more resolved and neutrally balanced ways than the Supers, without serious veils or speed and spectral imbalances. Though more bass weighted, warmer, slower, and softer than the hollows, they sound good to me, allowing nice fine detail and space throughout. Round about, the balances and spatially alive finer resolution from the coppers are due in part to their more complete spectral and speed balances, allowing more fine revelation than the Supers. Compared to Rhodium/silver, or silver hollows, it brings a compelling warm sweetness that could be a nice tuning tool. For systems needing some more warmth and bass weighting (especially compared to fuses) without notable loss or smoothing of fine information in space, they might do this nicely with their relative neutrality and transparency.
Next was a solid Golden State silvers that I used with Mark's coppers for quite a while. These are 6mm, and I wish they were 5mm since the lighter gauge would open them up nicely. But they sound really good... sort of a bigger and clearer sounding Verafi Copper... all aspects of the sound a little bigger it feels fuller, but balanced, and quite spatially alive, excellent fine detail in space throughout balancing the fullness nicely. The silver is warm and resolving in a good silver way, but it does lack a bit of that sweet magic I get in this setting from the Verafi Copper Sluggos. How much of this is gauge, hard to guess, but within the bigger sound, the big silvers have similar or more absolute clarity with a good silver feel. And one or the other felt better to me in different placements, so I enjoyed using the two together for most of my testing with tube, cable, system work.
Then the hollows trickled in and replaced most of coppers and silvers. We will see after the hollows are fully burned in, but being less metal, they are less full, allowing whatever they allow more, and more quickly, yet still dense and musical here, so promising.
Leading to the next, the Rhodium/silver hollow. When I first put this in, it was wild... intensely and weirdly clear. But that began to pass pretty quickly as it settled into its Rhodium sound. Still green, I do hear a distinctly solid and smooth Rhodium clarity... It is like all the clarity and space is there, but with a more solid feel than other metals, and the smoothness allowing a sense of some warmth, but less obviously textured than good copper or silver. From these comparisons, I realize the hollow Rhodium/Silver is just a little veiled in clarity and speed at this point, but I did not notice it before comparing with more burned in slugs. I expect that to pass...fingers crossed. I have not figured out how to describe the Rhodium sound beyond this. But having that sort of Rhodium smooth sheen, and being silver based and hollow makes it overall less bold, full, and bass weighted, while making it more spacious and open, especially compared to solid slugs I have.
Also, since these are hollow silver tubes, the Rhodium plating is inside and out, so these things proportionately have a lot more Rhodium to silver than Rhodium plated solid silver fuse replacements... I don't really know what to expect from this beyond a longer burnin, and I look forward to whenever that happens hearing them fully. Here, Rhodium's straight forward open and smooth clarity can be a nice touch in certain places... Little by little I find myself using it more in the mix, though I find it easier overall to use the more obviously warmish and textured pure silver, pure copper or gold plated pure copper for cable and component connectors.
Next is the pure silver hollow. After the solid silver and hollow Rhodium/silver, this one showed more clarity in space, more dynamic hit, a nice subtle warmth...though a less full "warmth" with less bass weighting than the solid silver. The sound still pretty dense, the more neutral and open feel makes it faster and more spacious.... more present and clearly active. Here it has really good balances throughout and is rich in speeds and in complex information. In these tests, and in this system, likely the “best” overall at this stage of burnin.... But this is in the context of several different slugs in use system wide. I like having a blend to mix and match.
Here anyway!
Clearly all systems are different, but I hope this points to the actual sonic characteristics of each without biasing it too much based on my system and tastes. That is the trick I think… and a tricky one at that.
|